


Sea salt on the rim of a Whiskey Glass

by Sassafras26



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alcohol, Bartender Lance (Voltron), Eventual Smut, Keith and Shiro are Adoptive Siblings, Lance and Keith are 21, M/M, Mentions of Cancer, One Sided Rivalry, Pining Keith (Voltron), also Lifeguard Lance, mentions of amputation
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-13
Updated: 2018-05-12
Packaged: 2019-04-22 09:02:24
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 11,336
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14305314
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sassafras26/pseuds/Sassafras26
Summary: Spending his Friday nights in a bar called The Castle doesn't really appeal to Keith until a new bartender shows up, and Lance sure is hard to stop thinking about. Keith fuels his growing crush by finding opportunities to be included in Lance's life, but that seems to just rub Lance up the wrong way as he misinterprets Keith's efforts as being one uped! It takes a long time, as well as some outside help, for Keith to conquer his awkwardness and Lance to realise he's got it all wrong. Slow burn and eventual smut/happy ending, a side of Shiro/Allura and mentions of near death experienes/illness of minor characters.





	1. Bad First Impressions

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first chapter and also my first fic so woohoo!! Bless Keith's gay awkward heart, he's not got it quite right so far, but it's going okay! That's not gonna last that long, Keithy boy.  
> I love the idea of Shiro's family adopting Keith when Keith's dad realises he can't provide everything he wish he could for his boy and loved his son a lot, and Shiro loves his bro a lot! Give my boy a happy childhood goddamn it.  
> Lance's family will be making a future appearance, resulting in a Bonding Moment that will take Keith and Lance's relationship in a turn for the better! Can't wait to get this updated, the next chapter will get more into Lance building the one sided rivalry!

On his 21st birthday Shiro was more excited than Keith was, wanting his little brother to experience the joys of buying his own alcohol and getting shit-faced _legally_ , and Keith let himself be dragged along for the ride. The day after his 21st birthday he threw his pillow at the offending sight of his brother, full of curses at him for giving him the exact same experience drinking underage had given him with twice the vengeful hangover.

His experiences with Shiro on that night lead him to The Castle, a quaint bar in the heart of their sleepy seaside town that acted as a social hotspot for the same regulars every day of the week. It had pool tables, an old fashioned pub like bar in the back for the oldies, and a small stage area for live musicians who were always the niece or nephew or other relation to said regulars.

It was nice. Communal. Shiro had known everyone there and passed greetings and snippets of conversation to people passing their table, and Keith had felt included in that by the few that had introduced themselves with 'And this must be Keith! I've heard so much about you-'. The Castle was Shiro's favourite bar in town, probably because he was not a party animal in his early 20s anymore but still valued being entertained through the acts that came on. Also because his two favourite people worked there; Matt as a bartender, and Allura the manager that balanced the books. Keith met her that night when she came barging in with receipts flying from her hand; "How could we possibly be down $148 on the till!?" She was nice but... scary. He can tell why Shiro likes her.

They had gone from his birthday in October to the heat of July, and Shiro through persistent bugging, and at points bartering, had gotten him back there time and time again.

"Well, come out for just one drink, okay?" If Shiro wasn't so sweet and looking at him with such big puppy dog eyes of brotherly concern, then Keith wouldn't have cracked.

Shiro didn't have a lot of people to go with to the bar, it seemed most of his work colleagues were tied up in their own lives. That or he wanted to force Keith to have a social life by constantly getting him to tag along.

"Shiro, you _always_ wait until closing, if I wanted to spend my Friday night staying up until 1am it would be in my own bed with Netflix open on my laptop." Keith argued back weakly, watching Shiro put his coat on at the door. He sat on the couch still cradling his empty pizza box; they get take out for a treat at the end of every week. That tradition had been going since they were kids and their mom got build-your-own pizzas. He always made a smiley face with his pepperoni slices, Shiro made his have a cheesy quiff. But they weren't 12 anymore and it was not socially acceptable to buy those for himself, so dominoes sufficed.

"Oh Keith come _on_ , you don't have to stay until closing," Shiro was bartering and he was looking at him with the long perfected 'i'm doing this for you because I love you' look on his face. Damn he's so weak for that face. "I promise. Just come for an hour, it will be fun, and it'll do you some good."

Keith scrunched up his face and made a pained noise in his throat, looking at Shiro already stood at the door with that soft dad eyebrow raise thing he did, which he absolutely stole from their father, and let his breath out in a defeated and heavy sigh. Thus the elder defeats his sibling.  
"Alright. An hour!"

 

The Castle was never fully packed on a Friday unless either a game was on or it was New Years Eve, and it being neither, Keith and Shiro walked into a relatively relaxed atmosphere. The bar was lodged nicely into the left of the entrance, Matt was already pouring beer for someone's order when he looked up to see Shiro, immediately grinning.

"Hey there Shiro, Keith!" He greeted, and of course the older saddled up to his normal little stool at the end of the long wood top bar. Keith stood, refusing to get comfortable yet because he was still bitter that he was here in the first place, but hovered very close to Shiro for comfort. The stage was empty so the only music on was the jukebox, hearing the sounds of a familiar Ed Sheeran song. He didn't know which one, they all sounded the same to him anyway.

"Hey Matt, how's it going?" Shiro asked, leaning his elbows on the bar and watching his long time friend pour a pint of cider. Matt grinned and shrugged, his low ponytail of brown hair bobbing on his shoulder.

"Good, man, we started taking readings of Kerberos at the start of the week and are getting some crazy results!" That was another thing about the bar, everyone working here had a day job. Matt liked being sociable, he liked 'winding down' as he put it on four shifts a week at this easy going bar, but in the day he was a software tech lead in some big space company called Garrison Intelligence. If you asked Matt what that meant he'd get excited and say something along the lines of:  
_'I collect Satellite and Geospatial Data, mainly I work in software system maintenance and scripting development but I dabble in imagery analysis on the geographic information we get from the satellites!'_

The nerd translation being, he programmes satellites to take space pictures to figure out the size shape and surface of stuff. Most recently, Kerberos. If _anything_ awesome could be made to sound boring, Matt could do it absolutely. But Shiro loved to hear all about it, they were really close friends after all.

"That's great to hear," Shiro says warmly, fishing for his wallet, "I'll go for my regular, alright?"

"On it."

Keith leans against the wooden bar and looks around the room, noting the lights were dimmed apart from at the bar and the cheap blue and red wash lights on the stage, normally indicating an act. The stage was raised in the centre back wall of the room, opposite the bar, and the seating in between was half filled up with people Keith had all seen before but didn't remember the names of. He ran a gloved hand through his long dark hair, thoughtless and not paying attention to the idle chatting from his brother, slipping into quiet people-watching mode.

"Hey, you being served?" A perky voice spoke near his ear, making Keith whip his head around in surprise.

He faced a bright pair of blue eyes, set in a face he didn't know, and he was convinced he'd met all the bar staff that work Fridays. The boy asking the question was striking, his skin was so flawlessly smooth he looked airbrushed, and his smile electrified his eyes. The fact Keith didn't answer right away had the bartender's thin brow arch up his forehead, and alerted Shiro that he was Socially Struggling, so he jumped in for him.

"Yeah he is, we're together." He smiled kindly at the stranger, who looked at him and smiled back with recognition seeming to shoot through his eyes. He looked a little star struck as he retreated, seeing Matt pass Shiro's beer to him on the counter.

"Ah, alrighty," He smiled back at Keith with perfect teeth and his gay heart jammed up into his throat. Why was he not saying something? Saying anything would be great, Keith, rather than standing like a clam.

"Oh hey Shiro, this is Lance! He's being trained up but he learns quick so Allura's got him working weekends." Matt explained, ushering Lance back over. The new guy, Lance, seemed to be a little shy and rubbed his arm, but came over the second Shiro put out his hand to shake.

"Hey Lance, I'm Shiro, and this is my lil brother Keith. We're friends with Matt and Allura." Keith immediately felt like he needed to clarify he was actually not friends with Matt and Allura, as lovely as they were, he's never once hung out with either. Lance shook Shiro's hand and had that initial awkward look as he realised he was shaking a prosthetic, that struck a sour note in Keith, but recovered quickly.

"Well then I'll try to never mess up your orders or else I may be skinned by my boss's." His light-hearted comment made Matt puff out his chest, looking smug that he'd been called his boss despite being just another bartender with him. Keith had his arms crossed tightly over his leather jacket, and when Lance offered him his hand as well Keith just stared at it. Why's he holding his hand out like tha- _oh my god he wants a handshake shit he was included in the introduction_. This thought donned on Keith the moment Lance dropped his smile and took his unshaken hand back, offended by the obvious arch of his brow and creasing of his eyes. Shit. He's already pissed off the pretty new bartender.

"So Keith, what is it you're drinking?" Matt asks as Lance seemed to sulk off with a jut to his lip. Keith scanned the array of liquors hanging behind Matt, assessing his options.

"Uhm.. JD and coke." He said with a shrug.

Matt was two seconds into fishing out a tall glass when a spluttering noise caught his attention, Lance holding a lager glass to a pump leaking foam at him, much to his confusion.  
"Oh don't worry the barrels just need to be changed- I'll go do that, can you pour a Jack Daniels and coke?" he asked, disappearing into the little backroom where their cellar was. Lance looked relieved beyond belief that he wasn't at fault, and grabbed Keith's glass, filling it with ice and jamming it under the Jack bottle above the bar, the golden brown liquid spilling over the cubes while Lance tapped in the order into the cash register. Keith cringed. He had sensitive teeth and ice made them hurt. God should he have said that before? He watched anxiously as coke poured into the drink and then Lance passed it to him with another smile, and goddamn he hadn't the heart to tell Lance when he smiled like that at him.

While Shiro paid Keith brought the glass to his lips, enjoying the taste of the whiskey and sweet coke, then immediately cringed and pressed his tongue to his teeth when he felt the bite of sensitivity in his mouth. He couldn't help the furrowing of his thick eyebrows and looked up, seeing that Lance had watched that whole thing with the change still in his hands. Keith looked up, levelling a challenging look over the counter. Both men suddenly were engaged in a kind of stare off, Keith begging for the floor to swallow him up as Lance's eyebrow nearly ascended up off his forehead as if asking what the problem was. Shiro looked between them and nudged his brother with his foot, looking expectantly at him. He put the drink back down on the counter. Lance and Keith locked eyes as Lance braced in a way all employees in goods and services did when they knew a complaint was coming their way. Keith felt horrible.

"I don't like ice." He managed to say, and it came off a little forced and immediately he saw Lance look done with him.

"Sorry about that." Lance said with a customer service voice on, shaking his attitude and taking the glass back, taking a spoon to fish them out and toss them in the sink before putting the glass back on the surface. Keith took it and nodded at him before turning around and heading for a table.

Putting the glass down Keith immediately felt like he wanted to die, sitting at the little table while Shiro popped up by his side. Keith stared at his glass like it was at fault for that whole horribly awkward scene and rolled his jacket off to let it fall over the back of the chair.  
"Ah, well, that guy seems nice." Shiro noted casually.

"Yeah and he thinks I'm an asshole-!" Keith grumbled, rubbing his finger against his thumb. "I didn't shake his hand, the first thing I say to him is a complaint, URGH why'd I come with you to this stupid-"  
" _Easy_ , Keith." Shiro said in a stern, concerned voice. He shrugged and leant his prosthetic arm over the chair. "You were surprised, after all he's a new face. You're fine. Go up and order your next few drinks and he'll forget all about it." Shiro was easy going like that, never plagued with the same awkwardness Keith had.

Maybe Keith was just born awkward.. He didn't know if his birth parents were very awkward people or not, but he was too young to remember if his biological father was awkward or not from the visits he had on weekends. He'd died when Keith was a kid but that guy had been an outside presence in his life, not through any fault of his own, his father had a rough time with working long hours and sickness. He's sure that's why he was put up for adoption. As much as it stung to think he would have been a burden on his father, Keith would never ever complain about being adopted, his family were the most kind and wonderful, accepting people in the world to him. And hey, so what if Shiro was perfection embodied and that made him feel a little overshadowed sometimes, he wouldn't change him. Maybe make him less handsome so Keith could be the good looking brother. But that's all.

"...Who's on tonight?" He asked with a tilt of his head to the stage area lit up all ready. Shiro leant back to read the chalkboard in the entrance and hummed.  
"We just missed one band. On at 9:30 in about five minutes is.." He stopped to let his eyes widen and then sunk back with a sly looking grin, turning a warm gaze at Keith. "Lance."

Keith was halfway through a sip and inhaled, coke splattering his face and he coughed at the burn through his nose from the whiskey. _Ouch_ Shiro, some warning to that would have been nice. He set his drink down and punched the arm of the man laughing at him, Shiro pretending it hurt with an emphasised 'ow!' through his chuckles. He did that on purpose. Dick.

"Don't laugh it burns!" He rebuked, folding his arms tightly over his chest and glaring at the older.

Still- _Lance!?_ But Lance is working, he's a bartender, he can't pour drinks and sing or play music at the same time! That's not how it works, bar staff and musicians were separate beings. And yet that meant he was talented.. did he have a nice singing voice? He bet he did. He bet he played piano or something and sung beautiful, terrible pop songs and as much as he hated cheesy pop Keith would be swooning. Oh damn. He's in so much trouble. Why did he have to make such a terrible first impression?

"Though that makes me think," Shiro said and Keith immediately rolled his eyes.  
"You ever stop doing that?"  
"Shut up, let me finish," He received a well meant laugh and a hand ruffling up his fluffy dark hair, batting his hand away and fixing the strands with a grumble. "That makes me think, you can talk to him about performing. You know you sing beautifully and you're great on the guitar, you can talk to Lance about possibly performing here?"

Shiro's suggestion made Keith's blood run cold and a familiar rush of stage fright bubbled through his veins, the younger shifting uncomfortably in his seat. He liked to sing, sure, he enjoyed the rush from performing; in his own bedroom. Just.. getting into the music the way he did _in front_ of people made him so uncomfortable, the way his music made him feel was more of a private thing.  
"No.. It's not like I want to get noticed or break into the industry, Shiro I've told you it's just a past time- a hobby! I like doing it by myself." He said and fixed his brother a hard glare to tell him that the discussion was over.

He's not performing in front of people. Ever.

A huge group of people suddenly bustled into the bar, drawing attention to themselves as they cheered on entry to the bar, and immediately Lance was lit in the light of his own grin and headed around to hug them all. He started with a bigger guy, who squeezed Lance in a bear like hug and smiled big and wide.

"Hunk, buddy you made it!" Lance cheered, greeting everyone else just as excitedly. Oh, his friends. Got himself a little audience there huh? The endearing display made a little smile sneak onto Keith's lips, watching him fondly. Lance would be the type to have lots of friends, sociable people like him normally did.

"WOAH WOAH- Hey I need ID's from _everyone_ alright!?" Matt shrieked when the group of youngsters all turned on the bar, looking like a dear in headlights and quite honestly afraid. The group made a resounding sound of disapproval and roughly two thirds of them moved away, some including Hunk staying at the bar. "And Lance you're not on yet so get back here and serve!" "What!? But Maaaaatt-"

When Lance eventually made it out the back with a guitar he had to walk past Keith to get to the stage, and glanced back at him at his table. Keith smiled at him and cupped his hands around his glass awkwardly. "Good luck." He said quietly, that seemed to appease Lance when he beamed back at him. "Thanks Keith."

 

Lance performed some of the hottest songs he's ever heard, some of them even made Keith sway his shoulders a little. When Lance sung in Spanish it sounded like sunshine and joy and summer.  
Keith went to bed replaying the most beautiful rendition of _Troye Sivan's BLUE_ he's ever heard. He put his face in his hands under the covers and felt the burn on his cheeks, knowing he was blushing.  
Oh no.

 

* * *

 

 

"Last orders, everyone, last orders!" Matt called out from the bar, causing a tidal wave of regulars rush up as their fifteen minute window for drinks was closing.

Keith was at The Castle for yet another Friday night, after the first time he watched Lance perform he realised the only way for him to stop replaying the same songs in a velvety hot voice in his head was to replace it with a different version, of new songs for Lance to wrap his tongue around and fuel Keith's pining. It turns out he has a set gig every Friday now and that's why Allura got him working the bar so quickly after training.

"People like live music, and we rely on local talent to come in and ask to perform." Allura explained, sitting across from Shiro at the same little table they had adopted, her hands around an untouched rose wine that Shiro had bought her, she's technically not allowed to drink it for another fourteen minutes when her shift 'ends'. It doesn't end, she always has to stay behind to count the till, she just likes to do it with a sneaky drink that Shiro always buys her, because he's a dork and likes her and enjoys seeing her unwind from her manager work mode. "That's never a reliable system but Lance keeps our Friday's nicely filled out by having a regular performance. The crowd he creates is also beneficial, or would be if he didn't give out so many.. 'discounts'." Allura grumbled that last part, Keith casting a glance at Lance handing a drink to a pretty young blonde girl with a 'girl of course you've got a discount code, it's your phone number, sweetheart'. Urgh.

Allura dislikes Lance's flirtation with female customers almost as much as Keith does, partly because it kind of makes him look stupid to flirt so much like some generic loverboy, partly because he has never received a flirt and is jealous as hell.

Though by now he's ruined the chance of being flirted with, as he did the fucking ice thing again when Lance forgot, saying _'well I did say I don't like ice last time'_ only to have touched a nerve, the darker skinned bartender pulling a face with a mumbled _'like I remember everyones order'_. He's right, Keith had presumed he would remember him at all and quite clearly had been forgotten.  
He remembers Shiro though.

"He's your number one fan, Shiro." Allura purred, her almost elfin blue eyes glinting at the hope of sharing gossip, a bleached white eyebrow raising at her friends direction. Shiro chuckled slightly, looking bashful, running a hand through the bleached white streak in his hair to get it out of his eyes. Three guesses who he copied that hair from?

"I've ah, noticed.. he's a good kid, but he's always so eager to please me, I don't know why he gets so jumpy when I talk to him." Shiro admitted, also casting a look at Lance.

"You don't? How about if I told you his day job is a lifeguard and a certain something you did steered him down that path?" Allura said with her chin perching on her perfectly manicured hand.  
Both Keith and Shiro whipped their heads around to the woman, mouths opening in shock as that particular question was immediately answered.

Shiro was something of a local hero for many little events, but one of his bigger acts of selflessness came on a day when a storm had hit the beach. Shiro was a cop.. He had been off duty, and yet had seen a kid get swept into the current and jumped into action. He fought off waves high as houses and swam back to shore with the kid in his arms, lungs half filled with seawater, and when the kid stopped breathing gave him CPR until the paramedics came rushing down the beach. Shiro has almost died for the town around four times, one resulting in.. in the loss of his arm. Keith didn't like to think about it. But that day at the beach there had been a crowd including the kids parents to help Shiro take him up the beach. Lance must have been _there._

"Lance was only about seventeen when he saw that happen." Allura started, pushing some of the white tendrils of her hair off behind her shoulder. "That was his little brother you saved, Shiro. Why else do you think he looks at you like that?" Allura seemed delighted at this particular gossip, she always had a soft spots for happy stories like these. "He says he knew at that moment he wanted to be a lifeguard. I'd be jumpy if I ever met my hero, too."

Shiro looked a little choked up, looking over his shoulder at Lance, smiling and serving drinks in that particular young charm he had. He swallowed thickly and Allura held his hand across the table, Keith putting his hand on his shoulder and squeezing.

"You're a real inspiration, huh bro?" Keith said with a soft smile, and Shiro for all his sentimental self smiled back at the both of them.

"The both of you are gonna make me sappy, stop it!" He waved them off in good humour and they all laughed lightly.

Later on when nearly everyone was getting gone, Shiro talked to Lance about it. Lance looked like he was ready to explode from pride, his smile lit up the whole room.  
Keith wished he could make Lance smile that way too.

With all the glasses cleaned, floors mopped, cashier counted and lights turned off, Keith realised it was 1am and he'd stayed until closing. Allura had her light pink raincoat on and jangled the keys in her hands.

"Alright everyone, that's everything packed away, let's go home." The group of bar staff and their two tag along customers walked out the front while Allura locked up behind them. Lance stretched and yawned.

"Well I'm sure as shit ready to sleep tonight, I'm exhausted!" He drawled, in no form of coat at all, as if he didn't understand the concept of being cold. Okay it was August but still the night wasn't that warm!

"Yeah flirting with that many girls must be exhausting, huh Lance?" Matt asked cheekily, walking to the car park with the group breaking off to just Allura, Matt, Shiro, Lance and Keith. Lance shot a look back at Matt and put his hands on his hips.

"Actually being the most attractive guy working here is _very_ exhausting Matt, thank you very much!"  
Keith snorted and hid his smile behind his gloved hand, which seemed to be all it took for Lance to throw a glare at him. "What, got a comment, Mullet?"

Keith realised that Lance was now off work, and his customer service voice was gone, replaced with a voice filled with nothing short of venom. It made him bristle, frowning and levelling the same glare back at lance, hands in his pockets. _Mullet?_ What's wrong with his haircut?

"You're a pretty egotistical guy, aren't you?" Keith fired back, and Matt made a dive for his car.

"Ahh anyway g'night guys, see you next Friday Lance, bye guys!" that put a cork in Lance's mouth as he looked like he was about to bulldoze Keith, the group giving goodbye's to him.

"Lance," Allura started as they neared the road outside the bar, "How are you getting home?" Lance pulled out a little side smirk and Keith felt the urge to smack him.  
"Worried about me, Princess? Don't worry I'm walking back, I can fight off any trouble that makes the fatal error of messing with Lance." Talking in third person, Keith actually _might_ smack him in his beautiful dumb face. Oh goddamn it Keith-

"Wait, how far away is it?" Shiro asked in concern, and Lance noticeably became more sensible.  
"It's only like, two or so miles that way-"  
"You're not walking around by yourself at one o'clock in the morning through the town centre for two miles!" Allura said, aghast. She only lived in the apartments a block down, five minutes away. Lance puffed out his chest.  
"Well if it's too far I could always stay with you-"  
_"Lance."_ Shiro warned, looking unimpressed. Lance clamped his mouth shut.

"You're walking the same direction we are, Keith and I can walk you part of the way, at least through the worst of it."  
Ah Shiro, ever the diplomat, and Lance wasn't going to say no. Keith huffed and crossed his arms, not exactly looking forward to listening to Lance and Shiro chatter, or Lance to further insult him. So they walked, at first in comfortable silence after saying goodnight to Allura, down the main street, only a few cars rolling on past. It felt nice, Keith was slightly buzzed on his few drinks and so was Shiro.

"So, Lance," Shiro started, breaking their silence. "You know a lot of Spanish for your songs, you Spanish yourself?"  
Lance beamed and Keith watched him eagerly from the corner of his eye, interest sparking in the hopes he'd learn more about him.

"Yessir, From Varadero Cuba! My family moved here so we could get an American education and go to a nice college, yanno? My ma spends half the year in Cuba with my Abuelita and the other half making sure her kids are getting good grades and getting jobs." Lance was totally animated telling the whole story, obviously proud, and it kind of made Keith's heart leap. "She's real supportive of me being a lifeguard, as much as she likes me singing I'm not really looking to be a popstar. Looks way too stressful." Keith felt his heart rip from his chest to hear someone else felt the same as he did, dark eyes sparkling.

"Same here. It's more for fun, right? Helps that you're really good at it." He said softly, almost hoping Lance wouldn't hear, but he did, and cast a look of surprise at Keith. He looked like he was torn between rude comment or sarcastic thanks.

"That's real nice of you to say, man." That wasn't what Keith had really prepared for, nor was he prepared for the soft eyes that looked his way.

Keith smiled back and feeling his cheeks heat up looked away, into the road as if it was super interesting all of a sudden. God Lance infuriated him one moment and the next fireworks were going off in his ribcage.

"What about you two, your parents local or they live in another town?" Lance asked, Shiro taking over the conversation.

"They live a few towns over, but they emigrated when they were a young couple. I grew up here, we go to Japan every year with them to visit our grandparents and other distant family, absorb some of the culture, get lost on city trips-"  
"That was _once!_ " Keith interjected, slapping Shiro's right arm as warning while his brother tried not to love embarrassing him. Yes, Keith did try and navigate them around Tokyo because he saw a cool underground restaurant on a brochure, yes he did get them ridiculously lost, and no, it was not once. He gets them lost on their trips a lot, mostly because he thinks he knows where they're going because he's 'got a good feeling' about it.

Lance laughed, and Keith wanted to bottle that sound and open the lid when he was having a bad day. He also glared at him because he was laughing at his expense, asshole.  
"I'll keep in mind to never let you direct me anywhere, Keith!"

The chatter continued, and Keith found himself talking a little more than he thought he would. Keith learnt that the big guy that always attends his performances, Hunk, was a huge foodie and Japan was on his tick list of countries to go to, to learn about their cuisine. Apparently he wanted to publish his own cook book and own his own restaurant, and Lance was incredibly proud of him graduating culinary school. It was sweet the way he spoke so highly of his friend. He also learnt that Lance had a huge family, naming only three siblings out of the many he had, as well as aunties and uncles and cousins that the big family met with for barbeque parties and how they both should come to one, since Shiro did save his little brothers life.

"God what you did for him.. yanno he still doesn't go more than knee deep in the sea?" Lance had something cold in the backs of his eyes, even in the streetlight he gained years to his young face with an obvious worry. Worry didn't suit him, at least that's what Keith thought, tilting his head towards Lance as he continued.  
"He'll swim in a pool but the sea.." Lance trailed off, casting his eyes off in the direction of the shore, sometimes when the night was still you could hear the waves. Shiro looked at Lance in concern and put a hand on his broad shoulder.

"I'd do it again in a heartbeat. And I'm proud to hear you keep the town safe too, down there at the beach." He spoke softly, offering comfort when they stopped at a street corner, Keith realising they were on their road now and they'd have to let Lance get home on his own. The younger looked back up to Shiro and stood up taller, giving him an assured nod, his words obviously meaning the world to him. Keith didn't mind third wheeling this, he always squirmed under intensely emotional stuff anyway.

"Thanks, Shiro.. uhm, I should let you guys go home it's so late! I'll catch you next Friday, got some really good songs ready!"  
Lance retreated backwards and waved to Shiro and Keith, before turning on his heel and putting in a pair of headphones. Keith smiled as he watched him go, only being pulled from his stare when Shiro tapped his shoulder.

"When you're done staring longingly I'd like to go home to my bed, thanks."  
Stupid observant older brother. He's too goddamn nosy...

But he's right. He's got it bad.


	2. Hear Me Out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith makes a fatal error in trying to gain Lance's attention. He hopes to show his own passion for music after finally building the nerve to perform at his crush's bar, but he only succeeds in further ruffling Lance's feathers when his attempt to impress him instead is taken as a threat to Lance's territory! Also, Hunk makes some seriously delicious lunches, his beachfront cafe makes the best place for surprise meetings.

Pining was difficult.

Keith was not about to admit even to himself that he was thinking about Lance more times than an average person should think about an attractive bartender, but he did admit one thing to himself. He felt a rush when Lance looked at him... Only problem with that was Keith needed to spend $3.90 each time Lance spoke to him. He needed to gain his attention.

When Lance rolled the last few notes of _Little Lion Man_ off his tongue, eyebrows pinched and eyes half lidded as the last caressing question _'Didn't I my dear?'_ reverberated from the microphone, Keith was filled with new determination.

That expression on Lance's face and the conviction in his voice was the same with Keith when _he_ sang, believing every word and letting it fill his whole body. And Keith realised sitting here for the fifth time watching Lance on that stage that sharing how music made him feel made a connection with everyone in the room, so maybe he could impress Lance the same way?

Keith's applause was loud and his eyes followed Lance all the way off the stage to his group of friends, Hunk being the frontrunner and squishing him into a hug. Keith turned to Shiro and placed his hand on his forearm to get his attention.

"..Will you come up with me to ask Allura if I can perform next Friday?" He asked quietly, and flushed a little at the surprise in Shiro's eyes, caught off guard after the way he had been shut down the first time he suggested it.

With a booked slot at 7 and Keith's heart hammering in his chest he sat at the bar, tracing a fingertip around the rim of his glass, content in watching Lance serve everyone else.

"Hey, Mullet!" Keith bristled, trying to play off that he hasn't been staring with something close to fondness in his eyes. He was noticing how at ease Lance moved around now he'd gotten more used to the job, and where he's not so confident in other areas; he always struggled a few seconds at a time to find where certain drinks were on the screen, and forgot long orders. He always made a cute little pout when he had his back turned to customers and tried remembering. It was like his 'downloading memory' face or something.

"What?" Keith asked, looking back to see Lance with a strange little frown on his face. Keith reared back from his hunched position and frowned back. He wanted attention but not when it looked so sour.

"Your name showed up just now on the rota for next week. You trying to take my gig or something?" Lance seemed a little pissed off and had one arm leaning on the counter in confrontation. Keith felt a little rip in his chest and swallowed down the resulting bile, he'd not prepared for Lance to be actively unhappy that he's performing. Keith's muscles tensed up in his shoulders and he felt a brash reaction building up, eager to correct this spanner in his thrown together plan of winning Lance's admiration.

"No. Just want to try it out." He'd have left it at that if Lance didn't goad him on.

"Just tryin' out the spot right before mine on the only day I work huh? Suspicious!"

Okay, this can't just be an issue with the performance.

Granted he doesn't know totally what he's like with other performers, and maybe Lance is a little protective over his regulars and their tips, Keith's heard of that, but it can't be this bad that he gets called out!

Did.. Lance just not like...him?  
"Look, Lance, I don't know what your problem is here, I just want to try out performing in front of an audience!"

Keith realised he was arguing back and huddled around his empty glass when he noticed people casting looks. Something flashed behind Lance's eyes that made him lean back too, as if perplexed, the pinch in his eyebrows resembling his confusion when finding drinks on the screen. Then changed to a sudden angry shock as he gasped.

"You wanna _outdo_ me, that's it!"

 _"What?!"_ Keith nearly shouted that, confused as hell as to where Lance pulled that explanation from, but Keith was hardly about to tell him he's doing it because he wants to impress him. Not here at a bar surrounded by people staring-

A strong hand pressed into Keith's shoulder and pulled him back from the hunch he'd gone back to, Keith looking up to see Shiro step in beside him. He didn't need to put his hand on Lance, the other was already backing off, returning to being stood back as Shiro fixed him a warning look.

"Knock it off, the both of you." His voice was steady, he had the respect of both younger men and knew he didn't need to raise his voice to break off their confrontation. Shiro was good at diffusing situations like these, he had since he was young. Keith can't count the times Shiro has talked him out of fighting with someone, from being a wound up angry kid to an insecure teen lashing out he's had Shiro as a calmer presence talking sense to him. And here he was 21 years old and still having his big brother have to stop him from fighting...  
"Lance, you're still working, you can have it out like a man once you're out from behind that bar." At that Keith scoffed, having the right mind to claim Lance would never, but the squeeze to his arm told him not to go lower in the situation.

They both sulked the rest of the evening but Keith didn't go home. A hot headed, stubborn side of him wanted to see if Lance would confront him again once he was clocked out.

He didn't.

The three walked home in a heavy silence broken up only when Lance received a phone call and started speaking rapid Spanish. Shiro asked if it was his family, Lance seemed to relax and said his mom was arriving tomorrow and he was going to pick her up from the airport.

 

"What ah.. what happened earlier? You alright?" Shiro asked once they got in the house, and Keith huffed, a little put out. He tore off his leather jacket and threw it on the back of their couch, too sour to answer. "Keith." The younger let out a jagged breath, turning around to look at the other man, arms wrapped tightly around his chest. His eyes were darkened by frustration and bounced tension off the severity in Shiro's gaze, both men opposite each other and both stubborn in their own ways.

"Nothing happened," He bit back, the arch in Shiro's brow as a result made him bite his cheek, wishing his brother would for once not question his every action. "He's just got it out for me or something dumb like that! Anyway he's not happy about me performing Friday. Dunno why I went and did that- it's stupid-  and I knew I should have just kept it to myself-!"

"Hey, hey, easy there little brother.." Shiro came over to Keith and made an invitation of opening his arms, Keith grumbling but taking a step in and leaning his head on the others rock hard chest with his arms still firmly crossed. As much as he was annoyed with Shiro caring so much.. he'd never turn down a hug. "Doesn't matter what Lance thinks, you just focus on yourself. I bet he just had a rough day or something and took it out on someone he knows- I'll talk to him if it's upset you."

Shiro always talked sense to him, and that was nice and all to have someone to guide him, but sometimes it would be nice if he could let Keith rage about it first and then give advice after it was out his system.

Though he couldn't deny he made him feel a bit better, and maybe performing for Lance wasn't the best thing to do.. he'd just have to perform for himself.

"Nah. I'll drop it. I'll do two songs but no more than that, 'm not putting on a show." Keith said with the slightest of playful smirks, turning and trudging upstairs.

"Uh you kinda are, I've been gushing to Allura how good you are. Sorry!"

 

* * *

 

 

Wednesday the sun was out and temperature high, so Keith thought he might go out in his break. Stepping out of the museum he'd wished he had brought a change of clothes, the sun beating down on his dark hair had him sweating a little already, cursing that his security uniform was grey. The absolute worst colour for sweat stains- hands down.

Keith had already chosen one song he wanted to perform, one close to his heart. When things for him were tough emotionally, especially when he was younger and dealing with problems feeling lost and unsure where he was going or what he was meant to be doing with his life, he'd found music helpful. It made his head empty when it was too full. So he'd gone with an old favourite of _Florence + the Machine, shake it out,_ an anthem and safe haven all throughout being an older teen. It made him feel comforted and he fell into a daze when he performed it.

Keith put his headphones in and shuffled his playlist, walking down from the town centre to the beachfront. He'd kind of zoned out on the walk down, until he was looking out at the brown sandy beach and white tufts of waves lapping up at the shore. He halted to a stop when he realised, pressing pause on _Don't threaten me with a good time_ (he'd argue Panic! At The Disco was a good band till his dying goddamn breath) to stare at the seafront.

The sounds of waves and mindless chatter filled up his ears, the horizon line of the sea disappearing in a hazy blue caught Keith's attention for a few extended seconds. He ended up leaning on the railings at the edge of the sidewalk, looking down at the sand, and pocketed his earphones.

He doesn't come down to the beach in his breaks. It's normally too far out of his way even if he gets an early lunch, so why he's wasted 15 minutes walking down-

Oh.

He knows why. Because Lance works here.

Keith curses himself heavily and nearly turns on his heel away from the sound of kids laughing and crashing waves when his nose picks up on the smell of something absolutely goddamn amazing. _'C'mon Keith you don't have time for a sit down lunch..'_ he thinks to himself, but still his feet betray him and he starts walking down the street to chase the smell down.

There was a number of cafes and restaurants on the beachfront, as well as people with summer dresses and shorts swishing, ice creams in hand, and the white Lifeguard towers dotted around the expanse of the beach. Keith let his eyes glance up to the figure moving around in the little watchtower and his tummy flipped. Maybe..?

"Hey- careful!!" A voice called out and Keith immediately halted in reflex, head twisting to look ahead, realising someone had narrowly missed knocking into him, a plate of the most delicious looking glazed ribs in their hands and they apologised. Keith said nothing, only watching in semi shock as they walked away.  
"Oh man, that could have been disaster!" Keith looked around to a familiar voice and spotted the large, smiling face stood behind an open grill, spatula in one hand and the other waving with a transparent sanitary glove on. Hunk.

"Ah-- ah, yeah, thanks for the warning... it's Hunk, right?" Keith stepped up to the grill and counter, the menu stretching out behind Hunk was simple, limited to lunch and light bites in neat cursive paint. The smell hit him and he realised this was what he'd been following the past few moments. Hunk glanced bashfully at his work surface and went back to glazing, chopping, and flipping various ingredients.

"Uh yeah, yeah that's me, I ah- you-- you're Keith, from The Castle! I mean you know you are I was just confirming that's where I knew you from, yanno." Hunk seemed nervous and his eyes flickered to a clock hanging on the yellow tiles of the back wall. Keith relaxed, realising Hunk's shyness outranked his own by a landslide, though he wouldn't think so by the size of him. The darker man was tall and very broad, round around the edges like a heavy-weight champion. A gentle giant, huh?

"So-So anyway Keith! What'll it be?" Hunk asked, packing a box full of the food he'd been preparing. Keith felt something strange in Hunk's friendliness and he looked over Hunk's head, his dark hair tied back with an orange bandana, assessing the board.

"Uh I'm in a bit of a hurry, lunch break and all.." He pondered, then flickered his eyes back down to the other man. Hunk had been checking the clock again. The food he'd been making was put under a heating lamp and he didn't call a name or number out. Odd..

Not that he meant to be so observant, it kind of came with the job, being a security guard at a place with a lot of important and expensive stuff you had to be keeping your eyes out for any suspicious behaviour. Or, less exciting, who was walking out the gift shop with a badly hidden knick-knack stuffed under their clothes.

  "Whatever is good for eating on the go." He answered and Hunk beamed, tapping his finger to a specific order on the board.

"I got the prefect thing! It's a chicken and red pepper kebab but deconstructed in these killer wraps I make, you get lettuce, avocado, red cabbage and any glaze you want  with it! Works great for being against the clock, dude." With Keith's blessing nod Hunk got it going, Keith fishing for his wallet. He suddenly realised what was so strange about Hunk being so immediately friendly to him.

"Hey, Hunk?" The man hummed in question. "How'd you know my name." Hunk's big brown eyes widened further and he laughed nervously, visibly uncomfortable. Keith narrowed his eyes.

"Well yanno. Through Lance!"

Keith internally screamed.

"He uh- he talks about you and your brother, I recognised you from the bar and I ah remembered Lance saying you guys walk him home." It seemed genuine enough, and Keith pushed $6 onto Hunk's counter top, starting to feel himself flushing from the heat. Definitely because it was hot.

"Oh. Cool. Alright." Not alright- what did Lance say? Did he say good things or bad things? Was he mean about him, did he hate him, was he just having a bad day last Friday _he has to know he has to-._

"Hunk, buddy!! Where's my bestie- ...oh no not _you."_

Keith jumped a foot out of his own skin and looked around at Lance, stood under the canopy shade of the little grill restaurant in a tight white shirt blazed with a red capitalised 'LIFEGUARD', and teasingly small blue swimming shorts that made heat go south from Keith's face. He had the expression of a man wishing he could jump off a pier, looking to Hunk as if asking _'you're serving this guy?'_ with his arm stretched out accusingly. Keith cursed himself for wishing he would bump into him because he should have known it wouldn't have been as glamorous as he thought it might be.

"Lance." He greeted, immediately wanting to smash his face into a hard surface for being so awkward greeting him.

It didn't help the displeasure already dragging Lance's expression down, and turned him an uglier side of the coin, eyes widening as he puffed out his chest "Hey- DON'T ' _LANCE'_ ME!" Lance's voice cracked as he reached a new level of indignant and marched up to the counter, face going red. Wait his face was red- shit he's that mad to see him? "What're you doing here? And what kinda costume are you wearing in broad daylight, in public!?"

Keith looked down at his uniform and frowned, crossing his arms protectively over the grey collared shirt and badge he had on.

"It's not a costume it's uniform. I'm a security guard. And I'm here to get lunch, that's not against your beach rules, is it?" Here they were again, heads butting in a public place making Keith ridiculously embarrassed.

"It _should_ be against the beach rules to walk around looking like that!" Lance argued back, crossing his arms too.

"And not against the rules looking the way you do?" Keith challenged, immediately feeling his cheeks go ruddy that he said that out loud, because Lance's shorts were showing off the longest and smoothest legs he's ever- _Does Lance shave??? Oh sweet Jesus he shaves his legs. Sweet mother have mercy._

"You wanna take this outside guys- oh here's your lunch dude-"

"Thank you Hunky." The box under the heating lamp was given to Lance as a short interlude to their second heated confrontation.

"You're welcome, buddy. Anyway yeah you wanna take this outside cuz I would really appreciate if you didn't do this whole thing in my workplace..?" Hunk asked as a futile attempt to cool down their heated discussion.

Keith whirled around to look at Hunk with confusion wracking his eyes, frowning deeply.

"We aren't doing any _thing,_ this isn't a _thing_ because it isn't a regular occurrence! I just want to get lunch and go, Hunk, then I'll be out of your hair." Keith promised, exasperated already and slightly offended.

For one, if this were a thing, that implies it's both their faults for starting this. Which it is not. Keith hasn't started any of their arguments.

For another, what the fuck was Hunk implying with 'this whole thing', this wasn't a thing so why did he talk about it like this was an established problem--

Lance really must hate him.

"What's wrong with the way I look!?" Lance asked as if he'd been pondering the idea too hard, pulling his shirt out in demonstration. "This is _my_ uniform, oh you can wear your costume shop shirt and badge to the beach but a lifeguard can't wear trunks?" Lance challenged, waving his free hand around accusingly and Keith's temper boiled up at further provoking, too easily baited by his fast tongue.

"I didn't mean you can't-- URGH _forget it!"_

"Guys I have other customers _can you both not."_ Hunk stressed, putting Keith's order on the countertop. It snapped Keith out from his tunnel vision, looking around at the both unimpressed and anxious expression on Hunk's soft features.

Keith was already red in the face but now he blushed in shame, realising he'd been shouting and that others were looking at him like he was a rowdy delinquent ruining their lovely Wednesday afternoon. He took his food and pushed a hand through his hair to distract from the awkwardness around him.

"Sorry Hunk.." Lance said in a soft voice, also scratching his fingers through his short hair. "I gotta get back to the tower anyway, thanks man."

"Sorry.." Keith joined in, fishing out a guilty tip and slipping it into the tip jar. "I uh, guess I'll see you Friday."

"Yeah Hunk you're gonna go watch Keith sing aren't ya?"

Keith looked warily at Lance in case he was about to make fun, in which case he was ready to storm the hell out in a fit of final rage before he could go back to his job and yell at people touching exhibits.

"Oh sure! I'll be there. Tell me if you like the food too, I like getting feedback!"

 

Keith felt terrible, walking out from the seaside restaurant embarrassed and on edge.  He'd thought by now it couldn't just be the ice thing that made Lance hate him so much. Keith grimaced, deep lines carving into his forehead as his eyes looked at the granite pattern of the path. He was wracking his brain to think what he could have possibly done to piss him off to the degree where Lance picked a fight with him at any given moment.

If he called it quits for Friday... But he couldn't really do that or he'd let down Allura. He'd let down Shiro. And he _wanted_ to do it now, he actually wanted to get up there and see what it felt like to share the way these songs made him feel with someone else. He's just hoped it would have been with..

"Hey, Mullet!"

Keith clutched the paper bag and growled to himself, pushing that little thought down to his stomach, reminding himself that Lance was an asshole and not worth his time, especially after that whole fiasco.

"Hey! C'mon, grumpy! Dude!" Lance sped up to jog up to Keith's side, still sounding annoyed, and Keith sped up to get away from him.

Who does he think he is? Storming up to him like he's not allowed to enter public spaces, harass him for wearing uniform; okay sure it was box like and uptight but excuse-fucking-me for him not changing into a speedo just to walk along his goddamn beach-

"Keith wait, please!"

Keith slammed his feet into the sidewalk and swivelled his head around, face closer to Lance then he had thought, merely a few inches away from the point of his nose. While Keith was still hard eyed and tired of the amount of shit he's had already, so probably looked a bit feral at the moment, Lance had taken a very different expression on.

He looked.. well, hard to explain. It surprised Keith, because Lance was looking straight at him; the blue of his eyes looked so deep now they had lost the hardness and the challenge.

"What." Keith's voice came out a bit tight. He wasn't lowering his guard for that softness, one moment of guilt across Lance's face wasn't nearly enough to assure him that there wouldn't be another hit lying underneath.

Lance shifted and pressed his lips together, thin eyebrows knitting up a little in the middle. Guilt, definitely guilt.

"I uh. I didn't mean to jump on your back like that, back there, it was... yanno." Lance seemed awkward, but his voice sounded so sincere despite it, Keith was rendered unable to stop himself from forgiving Lance almost immediately just hearing it. Damn him and his voice.  
"I'm sorry about that. You can't help your uniform looking like you bought it on Amazon." Lance shrugged, sarcastic, making Keith huff and he felt his lips pouting on reflex.

"Whatever." He answered, looking off to the side as he felt the awkwardness seep into him as well. As far as an apology goes, weak. Yet.. it was an apology, still. Even if it was a terrible one. "Just.. leave it. You should get back to your job."

The Cuban scoffed a bit, not liking the notion of Keith telling him what to do, especially right now when he was right. Not as if Lance was going to say that out loud.

"Yeah yeah yeah whatever yourself, go back to.. to guarding your.. go back to being a security guard!" Lance didn't exactly seethe anymore but it was already hard to take that salty comeback seriously when he grasped for straws like that. Keith pushed down a smile.

"I will. Go back to sitting on a highchair and getting your nose burnt."

"WHY YOU-"

 

After the third heated confrontation in public, it weirdly made him feel better than the first two. Granted he was late and had to throw away half of the absolutely mouth-watering chicken wrap before going back inside the museum, he still felt lighter than he would have.

Their argument hadn't been very serious and honestly, Keith found himself having a bit of fun seeing the wild expressions and gestures Lance came up with when his feathers got ruffled. His feelings at least didn't get hurt when they exchanged childish insults that way.

 

* * *

 

 

Friday rolled around the corner. Keith could feel butterflies and was vaguely reminded of his high school talent show that he reluctantly sang in, the phantom taste of vomit from throwing up in his mouth coming back to haunt him.

Shiro had a protective and supportive hold of his shoulders, gently squeezing through the leather of his jacket as he arrived at 6:45 ready to set up and begin. He gulped in response and looked up, violet-grey eyes swimming in worry as he sought for some words of wisdom from his brother.

Instead Shiro smiled warmly, calm as a spring morning, and demonstrated a slow breath in through his parted lips and out through his nose. Keith repeated. His tense shoulders drooped a little and he nodded thankfully.

"Ah Keith, right on time!" Allura greeted, her hair pulled up in a stylish bun as she was stood behind the bar. Matt turned around and waved a greeting too, this sudden attention made Keith very nervous and he had to wipe his palms on the case of the guitar. Still he offered a little smile. "I'll pop out from here and help you get all set up, just give me a tick." She promised, smiling sweetly at him as if sensing his nerves.

Keith had convinced himself the past few days _'I perform for myself, I perform for myself, I perform for myself'_ and yet he searched for a pair of blue eyes and a flirtatious smirk around the bar. His heart plummeted not being able to find him, and Keith bit his pale lip to shake out from disappointment, following Allura out to get himself set up.

At 7 Keith was wiping his hands on his ripped jeans, playing distractedly with the black fishnets in the gaps, regretting going with this particular fashion trend for tonight as it made him feel more exposed. Allura was fixing up the lights to get some atmosphere going, and Keith barely noticed a group surging in until he heard them right behind him.

"Earth to Keith, come in?" That made him turn around, jumping out his skin again and being met with a familiar face that made his stomach flip and the white noise around him silence. Lance was weirdly rather happy to see him, or close to it, and had an eyebrow arched and a lopsided smirk that churned Keith's insides up. He was also in his work shirt.. so he was working tonight. Lance had brought an entourage with him, Hunk being one of them who smiled welcomingly, and some new faces he'd not been introduced to.

"Oh- hey, Lance." He answered, feeling his face heat up and he stopped playing with his jeans. Lance took his hands from his jacket pockets and gestured to a few people around him.

"Hey, I brought you an audience. You've met Hunk, this is Pidge, Matt's little sis," A small girl with short cropped hair and green and white striped shirt offered a wider smile and "Hey" in greeting, Keith mirroring. "and a few friend's as well as my co-worker Plaxum. She's a lifeguard with me at the beach and an actual _mermaid_ in the water." He seemed to be flirting, directing his head towards a tall, lanky girl with bright blue dyed hair.

"Just P is fine, Plaxum is a little weird, I know." She greeted.

Keith stood rigid but managed vaguely to interact. He hadn't exactly wanted an audience but it's nice that Lance has been...promoting him? Something like that.

"Nice to meet you all.. I'm about to go on so, I'm gonna go up and get ready." Keith said, eyes shifting between them all. Lance shirked off his jacket and he tried not to gulp watching him do that.

"I better get behind the bar then. If you get stressed just picture everyone naked, that's what I do!"

Keith's face nearly matched the strawberry red of his shirt at the suggestion, and he frowned deeply at the suggestion. Of course he does.. but imagining Lance naked wasn't going to help him whatsoever.

"Uh... no."

"LANCE stop chit chatting and serve drinks, will ya!?" Matt called up from the bar, juggling far too many people crowding him.

With the group dispersed and Lance finally working Keith was left no option but to get up on the raised stage and put his guitar strap over his body, stroking his fingers over the various stickers from favourite bands and animals and such on the body.

A kind of quiet descended and Shiro at the front gave him the thumbs up, but Keith's heart was in his throat and the lights didn't hinder his vision of the entire room looking at him, feeling like he was shrinking in size and obviously compensated for it by just diving right into it. Lance normally did a little introduction and greeting and what-not but Keith was more.. run head first into the fire.

 _"Regrets collect like old friends,"_ The room suddenly hushed into complete silence.

Keith felt intimidated that his voice had caused such silence, but it also caused a kind of... rush.

 _"Here to relive your darkest moments, I can see no way, I can see no way."_ Keith didn't touch the strings yet, letting his voice fill up the room, gaining confidence fast as he saw faces full of shock, awe, pride from Shiro and Allura who stood near the bar, and as Keith brought his hands up ready to come in with the guitar, his eyes flickered far into the corner into the bar, catching Lance's eye.

The expression on his face made Keith feel like he could do fucking cartwheels across this stage.

For a moment, the largeness of his eyes and the slack of his mouth, not totally like his jaw had dropped, but nearly, and the way he was stood so _still_ in the middle of the bar made it look like he was in awe.

So Keith ripped his eyes away and strummed his fingers across the strings of his guitar, singing his heart out, knowing he had the audience he wanted. Yeah yeah all that sing for yourself stuff was nice, but nothing satisfied as much as the feeling like he'd shared something with Lance, something he would understand, something deep and personal and raw.

 _"And I'm ready to suffer and I'm ready to hope_ _. It's a shot in the dark and right at my throat,"_ Keith didn't know when he closed his eyes but he had, and snapped them back open, pouring things out of his chest and diaphragm that he didn't think he ever could.

Not in front of people.

Not in front of Lance.

But he's realised halfway through doing this he's taken a wall down; exposed himself. Even if it was just something he did in his spare time, this was still his escape.

 

"It was _AMAZING_ Keith, it blew us away!!" Hunk was gushing, and to be honest a little red in his eyes and cheeks, but a little sniffle alerted Keith, who'd gotten off stage after his set of only two songs and had just joined the group of Lance's 'audience'. He was smothered in compliments immediately and was currently caught in a semi circle of praise, blushing and feeling unendingly uncomfortable. Could the ground just please swallow him up? Please?

"Yeah I had no idea you could like, really _sing_ like that!" Plaxum was beaming, pushing her hands through her hair to sweep it from her surprised face. "And you just do it for a hobby? You're wasting your talent, I tell ya, why are you not in the charts!?"

Keith sank his neck lower into his jacket in embarrassment. The charts? What, selling his own music!? Keith had never written a song in his life, he doesn't even know if he can!

"Got yourself some fans." Shiro said with a teasing laugh, taking a moment to just dig Keith a little further into the grave he's in. "You should get yourself on stage more often."

"Hey I'd come to your performances if you got yourself on more nights!" Hunk chipped in, Keith giving him a little warning glare so he knew not to encourage his brother.

"Yeah that was really good!" Pidge added, her hazel eyes gleaming from behind the huge round spectacles she had on.

Keith let out an irritated sigh and practically hugged himself he was crossing his arms so hard, face red. "You guys I'm _not_ gonna do that again. I just sing and play for fun! Not looking to get noticed or in the charts or _whatever."_ That seemed dismissive enough, Shiro rolled his eyes but slid his arm around Keith's shoulders, giving him a tug towards the bar. Hunk shrugged, and Pidge was more concerned with trying to wrangle a drink out of her 21 year old friends. Keith sat on a stool and pushed his hands into his flushed face, closing his eyes a moment.

"What's wrong?" Shiro asked in concern, leaning closer to the younger.

"Nothing just.. it was good. I liked it. Just don't want to make a big deal and cause excitement." Keith muttered, recovering from feeling so exposed and getting bombarded by compliments.

A gentle clank sounded in front of him and he snapped open his eyes, seeing a fresh drink placed under his face and he leant back, darting his eyes up to notice Lance quickly retreating to the other end of the bar. Keith frowned deeply, calling out to the back of his head.

"I didn't order this!"

"Someone bought it for you." Lance said, only sparing a half glance at Keith, taking out a fresh glass to make another drink. He was strangely... fidgeting. Shuffling his feet and curling his hand close to his stomach, cheeks red- _blushing._

Keith's mouth went dry.

"...Who bought it?" He asked, taking hold of the cold glass. It looked like his usual JD and coke. His eyes were wide, sparkling with a futile hope behind his dark lashes, lips curved down in an insecurity induced stress over the possible buyer. Lance shifted his eyes around a little.

"Uh.. some girl, she left after she bought it for you. Don't know her."

Keith had a little moment where his chest deflated, until he saw Matt from the corner of his eye give Lance a raised eyebrow like no other and a smirk, then turned to Keith.

"She must have really liked your singing, that the gist of it, Lance?" A look was thrown between them and Lance scoffed, finishing off the pint he was pouring.

"Yeah, well, I'm not one to judge other people's tastes."

Keith took a long sip, hiding behind the rim of the glass, and tried not to get his hopes up. If he-... if Lance bought him a drink it wouldn't mean anything. Just a compliment to his performance.

Turns out it was the expensive whiskey in his glass this time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Took a while to spin this one out but woohoo it's finally here!! Exam season has hit hard ; 7 ;  
> Also THANK YOU SO MUCH for the kudos on the first chapter!!!! It's my first fic so it means a lot that it doesn't totally suck, I really appreciate it guys <3 <3  
> This chapter was more to establish Lance and Keith's one sided rivalry, to show how Lance is getting the wrong impressions and is starting to feel that protectiveness over what he's worked for so far. A lot of the stuff going on in his head will be explained by him in later chapters! Keith meanwhile is falling hard for Lance and making progress in taking walls down /slowly/ in his attempts to get some positive attention. Well he got some attention, just not exactly what he was looking for.. is the next chapter going to expand on Lance sneakily buying Keith a drink? Or will Keith's great feedback only get Lance more riled than he already is??? Stay tuned~


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